Indictment: Ex-cop who owned security firm paid kickbacks

March 6, 2018

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former Newark police officer stands accused of paying kickbacks to the former head of a not-for-profit corporation that oversees the city’s water services.

A federal indictment handed up Monday alleges 42-year-old Janell Robinson paid the money in exchange for no-work contracts and inflated invoices for a private security consulting firm she owned while still on the force.

Authorities say the Newark Watershed Conservation and Development Corp. paid Robinson’s firm about $289,000 between March 2010 and March 2013. The corporation was the security firm’s only client.

Prosecutors say Linda Watkins Brashear, the corporation’s former director, helped secure the contract and approved the “fraudulent and inflated” invoices. In return, Brashear allegedly received about $3,000 each time the security company got payment from the corporation.